Daniel Geale said he wasn’t going to run from Gennady Golovkin. The challenger from Australia vowed to engage the middleweight champion from Kazakhstan and said he was willing to go toe-to-toe at times. It proved to be a mistake.

Too brave for his own good, Geale tried to exchange punches with Golovkin midway through the third round Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Each landed a right hand, but Golovkin’s punch resulted in his 17th consecutive win by knockout.

Geale never recovered from the hard right-hand he took to the chin at 2:47 of the round. Though he got up before the 10-count, his wobbly legs prompted referee Mike Ortega to stop the bout, improving Golovkin’s record with 30-0 with 27 knockouts.

“I was happy with the performance,” said Golovkin, who added he would like his next fight to be against Miguel Cotto.

Geale (30-3, 16 KOs) was a moving target most of the first two rounds. He stayed on his toes and bounced around Golovkin looking for angles.

Golovkin managed to trap him on the ropes in the second round and landed enough punches during one flurry to put Geale on the canvas. It was more of a flash knockdown as Geale was not seriously hurt.

But midway through the third round, Geale made the mistake of trying to trade with Golovkin. You don’t punch with a puncher.

The knockout came quickly as Geale tried to throw a right hand. It connected with Golovkin’s forehead, but the champion followed through with his own punch, a perfect counter that landed flush and sent Geale sprawling.

“Geale fought a brave fight, but Gennady rose to the occasion and put on a terrific performance,” said Golovkin’s promoter, Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions.

In the co-feature bout, Bryant Jennings of Philadelphia won a split decision over Mike Perez in a battle of unbeaten heavyweights.

Referee Harvey Dock took a point away from Perez in the 12th round for hitting off the break. It proved to be the difference in the outcome. One judge saw it 114-113 for Perez, while another judge had it 115-112 for Jennings. The third judge had it 114-113 for Jennings.

Jennings remains unbeaten (19-0, 10 KOs) and stays in line to be the mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight title, while Perez (20-1-1, 12 KOs) suffered his first loss.

“I was expecting inside pressure from Mike Perez, but that wasn’t the Mike Perez that showed up,” Jennings said. “It was a very technical fight.”

Perez wasn’t happy with the decision or the point being taken away.

“I clearly won the fight,” Perez said. “The ref stole the fight from me. I did whatever I wanted to do when I wanted to.”

In an earlier bout, welterweight Dusty Hernandez-Harrison (23-0, 12 KOs) of Washington D.C., won an eight-round decision over Wilfredo Acuna of Nicaragua (15-15).